


Trust is the Most Dangerous Game of Russian Roulette.

by BrightTerror



Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [9]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Martin really fucked up malcolm's childhood huh, Not gonna lie this is a slightly sadder one that what I usually write, Protective Gil Arroyo, Sad and Happy, Spoilers for S1 finale, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26972854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: Day 12 of whumptober  I THINK I’VE BROKEN SOMETHING  (Broken Trust)Malcolm didn't always have trust issues, those happened after many different situatons during his life.Basically: How Malcolm got trust issues and how he learned who to trust and who to not.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Ainsley Whitly, Malcolm Bright & Edrisa Tanaka, Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel, Malcolm Bright & Jessica Whitly
Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948378
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Trust is the Most Dangerous Game of Russian Roulette.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey!   
> This isn't beta read, so I'm sorry for any typos or errors.   
> Happy reading!

At Age 3 Malcolm Whitly was a very trusting toddler, he would often wobble to strangers and laugh at their silly faces. He would laugh when tickled and his nannies ran after him all over the place to take care of him. Jessica and Martin Whitly were overjoyed that their child was so normal, happy, and healthy. He had his entire future planned out for him; he was going to be a good man, be a doctor like his father and marry a rich woman to share his funds with. 

Jessica was already looking for families that could work with hers; Martin was the one who thought it was too early to plan who he married, he was only 3 after all. However, he was already making his separate plans for his first-born son to carry on his own legacy. 

By age 5, Malcolm Whitly was a very bright boy. He had already taken an interest in his father’s work as a doctor and was doing exceedingly well at school. He had plenty of friends and was taking ballet classes that his mother enrolled him in. Being a big brother was new to him, but he was taking the newfound responsibility to heart, he loved his little sister, even if she drooled on him whenever his parents let him carry her. 

All he had to worry about were what books to read next and what new toy he wanted to show off at school. By this age, children’s internal map on who to trust is built, by this age the kids determine whether the world is trustworthy or not. And for him, he couldn’t be happier and had the idea that the world was a bright and trustworthy place. 

There was a complete shift in his worldview by the age of ten. Everything he thought he knew was shattered. Once he had thought the world was nice, then he saw the girl in the box and his father’s true identity and he realised, for the first time in his life, that people deceive, no matter how much you think you know them. He realised that very bad people existed on the planet and he had been living with one for his entire life. He was  _ related _ to him. 

He loved his mom with his entire heart, but he often wondered if he could trust her completely, if she wasn’t hiding something like his father was. He looked around his house full of policemen and flashing blue and red lights, and he felt numb. All these people who were supposed to keep him safe were there but all he felt was defenceless, and insecure. They didn’t keep him safe.  _ He _ had to call  _ them.  _ He looked at his mom carrying Ainsley and he decided that if there was someone he could trust, it was her. She was still so small, and he knew he could trust and protect her from harm. 

From now on he was going to keep his guard up, so that no one hurt his sister or mother. He couldn’t trust anyone, but the policeman, Gil, —who believed him—didn’t seem so bad. 

By age thirteen he had begun to come out of his shell. He spent the last 3 years making sure Ainsley was alright, helping her with homework or cooking her meals when his mother had a little too much to drink. Being mute for the first few months after his father’s arrest opened his eyes to a lot of things. Seeing who treated him worse for not speaking or pretending he didn’t understand what was happening because he didn’t speak... those were the people Malcolm knew were bad. 

There were three types of people in his mind: those who are bad and can’t be trusted, those who are good but aren’t trustworthy, and the ones who are good  _ and  _ he could count on. The police officer--Gil-- was one of the few who he could count on along with Ainsley. He loved his mother, but he still wasn’t sure if she wasn’t like his father. She fitted in the second group of people. 

He began reading all the psychology books he could get his hands on. He would devour book after book to find any explanation as to why his dad was the way he was. On his weekly visits to Claremont Psychiatric he would ask doctors who worked there and even his own dad for explanations. He  _ needed _ to know why people were bad. He needed to know in order to be able to stop it and make sure he was  _ never  _ like that. No matter how much his dad told him they were the same. 

Malcolm Whitly was still guarded at age 15 yet he had found his small group of people he could call family. Not family by blood, but by choice, the type you could trust. He now knew he could trust Gil, whom he had grown to see as his father figure. Gil had helped him, his sister, and mother when things got bad. After reading profiling books and delving into cases he came to the conclusion he could trust his mother, she wasn’t like Martin. And Ainsley, his sweet little sister, yeah, he could count on her too. 

He grew fond of Jackie, his second mother of sorts. She had just married Gil and had known him for a year and a half now, so she was familiar with the Whitly family and welcomed them into her family with open arms. Malcolm was grateful for how she picked them up from school when Gil couldn’t, so the chauffeur wouldn’t have to go. She would take them places on their free days and went out of her way—as did Gil— to make sure he didn’t feel like a freak when he started using his restraints to sleep. 

At 18 things changed for Malcolm Bright. He was finally of age to leave his father’s name and legacy behind and move to college, where he had the chance to be someone other than his father’s shadow. He graduated with A’s and B’s even though he got bullied all the way up onto his last day at school, he took it all in stride and made it. It was the first time he was proud of himself in a long time, seeing the prideful and elated faces of his mother, Gil, Jackie and his 14-year-old sister as they watched him get his diploma. For the first time in a long time he thought he would be okay. 

He continued to keep visiting Martin. He hated to admit he still wanted a relationship with him even after all he had done. He went every two weeks to chat and talk about other murderers and Malcolm did his best to pry answers out of him about his own murders. He stopped telling everyone, but he still believed there was a girl in the box, he was sure he didn’t dream it and Martin had answers, he just had to make him talk. 

At age 25 Malcolm’s life was going great, he had been in Quantico for the past 5 years and only his higher ups knew about his relation with the Surgeon. The rest knew him as Malcolm Bright. He stopped visiting Martin and moved to DC. Gil had helped him pack everything and drove him all the way there, giving him his first road trip ever, which would be one of Malcolm’s most treasured memories in his lifetime. Now he was on the top of his class and envied by some because of all his intense knowledge of serial killers. His teachers were divided in a mixture of amazement and unease at how easily he could get inside the killer’s brain and think like them. 

These 5 years were the happiest and healthiest of his life. He was able to enjoy life more and opened himself more to people. He had a few relationships and had trust in himself as a profiler to know who he could trust. He didn’t fear people anymore because he now was experienced in knowing if they were lying and he read people's expressions looking for tells to their true intentions. Life was good. 

It wasn’t perfect, some of his colleagues had grudges on him and sometimes days were too hard to function. His night terrors continued but, in less frequency, and every so often his medication had to be altered. The days after would be hard on him as he adjusted to the new doses. When that happened Gil would come visit if his work allowed and if he couldn’t, Jackie would show up. The funny thing was he never told them to, he smiled every time they invited themselves over to take care of him. 

At age thirty his world crashed down from good to worse in a matter of months. It all started with the copycat case. Well, it began when he got fired from the FBI because they thought he was like his father. He had to admit, he was hurt that after ten years working for them, they had the audacity to think he was in any way like the surgeon. Ten years of loyalty should do more than what he got. 

Working the copycat case managed to metaphorically open all the old wounds he had cauterised and now his night terrors were at full force. He was having flashbacks of childhood memories he didn’t even know he had. He found out about the chloroform, the camping trip and even got hallucinations to add on top of the list of things he had to deal with. 

But to be honest with himself, he didn’t mind it much. So many good things came out of the whole fiasco; he worked with Gil again, and this time he was an official consultant to the police. He felt like he had something to live for every time he helped his father figure solve a case. 

Something he didn’t thought would happen after Jackie passed away was that he would let more people into his life. Between his trust issues and now the pain of mourning a love one he never thought he would find more people to add to his makeshift family. 

But then he met Dani, JT and Edrisa. Edrisa was the friend he never thought he would have, a friend who cared about him despite his past and even indulge him in his rants about strange subjects every time. He often got told to shut up when he info dumped but Edrisa would smile and go on a rant of her own. Their levels of energy matched, and Malcolm was certain she could be trusted. 

Dani wormed her way through his heart and had overpassed the walls he had built around himself. Malcolm wasn’t sure of her at first but after his past had come out to the open and Dani didn’t immediately hate on him, their friendship began. It wasn’t until he got high on drugs on a case and she took care of him that he decided that yes, she was worth trusting and he considered her part of his family. 

At first glance Malcolm would never expect to have JT as one of his trustworthy family members but here he was. Malcolm eventually saw him as sort of his big brother, and he liked how JT wasn’t afraid of calling him out and did not walk on eggshells around him like most people. He was loyal and after some profiling Malcolm decided he was one of the good guys. 

He also met Eve, who took an interest in him from the start despite knowing about his family and father. She liked him enough that she came back even after he almost accidentally killed her. She was perfect and there was something in the back of his brain that was nagging him, telling him it was too good to be true but for once he ignored it and based on how she was treating him since they met, he trusted her. 

At thirty years and 8 months old Malcolm Bright’s entire worldview shattered for a second time in his lifetime. The shattering was slow at first and then it all crashed down. 

Of course, he should not have trusted Eve, she wanted to know about the girl in the box: her sister. He hadn’t been interested in him at first like he thought. It had been a ruse. She had promised him she actually had feelings for him and he let it go and continued to be with her. He thought if she could move on from him almost killing her, he could put that detail aside. He still liked her and cared for her but no matter what, he knew deep down, even if he didn’t want to accept it yet, that he would never be able to trust her again. 

He was glad he still had Gil, Dani, Edrisa, JT, Ainsley and his mother. At least his support system was still there for him after all this time. 

He began to rethink what he knew about his mother when she was prepared to kill someone. Yeah, that someone was the serial killer of his father but the fact she had been about to, put into perspective that she could murder if push came to shove. Malcolm was weary of her after that but his trust in her didn’t completely fade. He knew she would never do something like that if she had another choice. 

He still had Gil, JT, Dani, Edrisa and Ainsley to trust. He could make it through. 

And then, suddenly, it all backfired. All the last two decades he had spent carefully assessing his close friends and family, taking all the necessary precautions to make sure he could feel safe again, they all broke. 

Eve left him and died and when he needed them the most he was framed for murder. He wouldn’t be as affected by it— after all he had been framed before, no one took it well when they figured out, he was the surgeon's son, so people made allegations—wasn’t new— but the moment Gil walked into his house to arrest him along with Dani and JT. Yeah that hurt. 

The man he considered a father for the last 20 years had to arrest him because there was too much evidence. He knew, logically he was doing his job, but the childish part of his brain only saw Gil not standing in his corner when he needed. 

Later Gil showed him he would always be there for him once again. He even told him to escape town to keep him safe. Malcolm was still hurt but he clung to the knowledge he  _ could _ trust Gil. 

He could not say the same for Dani and JT. They had not even spent a few hours at maximum with the supposed evidence when they had turned against him. They  _ actually  _ thought he murdered Eddie. 

Malcolm felt like he was stabbed all over again when he realised, they were not there for him… he had taken the wrong decision and it was too late to take it back. The damage was already done. 

His mental health was deteriorating fast and between all the things happening with Endicott and Martin, his hallucinations, and his trust issues becoming way worse, he didn’t think he could take it any longer. 

And then… Ainsley murdered someone… and it wasn’t any murder... it was overkill. 

Seeing Ainsley, the one person he had faith that he could always trust, the one person ever since he was five years old that he could count on, viciously murder someone in front of him was the last straw. 

Ainsley was the one person he was absolutely certain that was okay. He had shielded her as much as he could and did  _ everything  _ he could to make sure she would not be traumatised by Martin’s actions. 

So here he was, standing in front of his baby sister, who was covered in blood, while Endicott’s dead body continued to bleed on the carpet. He looked at her in shock and couldn’t speak. 

He had made such a monumental mistake on his judgment call for her, JT, Eve, Dani, his father…. 

He didn’t think he could ever trust himself again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look at that! you made it this far with the fic! thanks!!   
> if you liked this leave a comment!!
> 
> I will most likely write Prodigal Son and Criminal Minds the most for this whumptober challenge so if you like those fandoms you can subscribe to my BrightTerror's 2020 whumptober series!  
> If you want to come and chat find me on Tumblr as: @BrightTerror (My writing blog) or @Sherlock-Freud (My prodigal son blog)  
> Have an amazing day!


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